Aggregated News
A Chinese scientist horrified the world in 2018 when he revealed he had secretly engineered the birth of the world's first gene-edited babies.
His work was reviled as reckless and unethical because, among other reasons, gene-editing was so new and the technology's full risks were unknown.
China imprisoned the scientist, He Jiankui, for three years for violating medical regulations.
Fast forward to today: Mainstream scientific organizations are encouraging very careful basic research to explore gene-editing and human reproduction. But they still warn any attempts to create more genetically modified children anytime soon should remain strictly off limits.
Now, however, Silicon Valley venture capitalists, futurists, East Coast entrepreneurs, and pronatalists — who fear falling birth rates pose an existential threat to the human race — are eager to push the technology forward. And that's kindling both great hopes and intense fears.
Fresh interest from private companies
"You've got a convergence of people who are thinking that they can improve their children — whether it's their children's health, or their children's appearance, or their children's intelligence, along with people...